he Killing of Kashmir
Unreported World
Published: 08-Apr-2004
By: Channel 4
Reporter Sandra Jordan and producer Rodrigo Vazquez travel to the disputed state of Kashmir to reveal what life is like for civilians caught up in the vicious circle of violence between the Indian army and pro-Pakistani militants
Unreported World: Killing of Kashmir broadcasts on Channel 4 at 9pm April 8, 2004.
This is a special hour-long 9pm edition of Unreported World which launches a new run of this critically-acclaimed series
More than 60,000 people, mostly innocent civilians, have died in the 15-year conflict. Half a million Indian troops are stationed in Kashmir, fighting Pakistani-funded militants who slip across the border to attack the troops but also to terrorise the local population into giving them shelter and assistance.
While both governments talk of peace, Unreported World reveals that, on the ground, very little has changed. For the local villagers life is a cycle of militant violence and government repression.
The team arrive in Srinagar to find Indian police have just violently beaten a group of women who are protesting about the detention of two men and a woman for alleged links to pro-Pakistan militants.
Two sisters tell Jordan that around 25 masked troops from a Special Operations Group had burst in through the window and grabbed their father, mother and uncle. The children are terrified that their parents may join the 8,000 people who international human rights groups say have "disappeared" after being taken away by the security forces over the last 15 years.
After a long wait outside the local police station, only the mother is released. She has been badly beaten and is on the edge of unconsciousness. She reveals that she had seen her husband in custody and that he had been badly tortured.
Two days later, the team find out that there is a shootout going on between the security forces and militants in a house in Srinagar. They arrive to find that after four hours the police and army have killed two leaders of the militant groups.
The army say that after finding out that the militants were hiding in the house, they got the civilians out and then a firefight started after they tried to search the house, resulting in the deaths of the two men.
Local eye-witnesses, including the owners of the house, tell Unreported World a different story. They say that early that morning the security forces had arrived and told them to get out of their house.
Half an hour later, soldiers brought the two men to the house, put them in a room and then executed them. The security forces stand by their version of events, but staged shootouts, say human rights groups, are commonplace.
Jordan and Vazquez then travel to the front line between India and Pakistan to see what life is like for the local villagers caught between the militants and the army.
In the remote village of Panar, where an encounter between the army and militants had taken place on the previous day, villagers tell them that following the death of a militant, the army had taken away two old men simply because their houses were closest to the gun battle.
They tell Jordan that the security forces regularly come to the village and torture them. They are also terrified of the militants who take revenge on the local population following shootouts.
Back in Srinagar, the security forces are rounding up people in advance of Indian Republic Day. Four young men have been taken away and the Unreported World team go to the local barracks to see if they can find out what's happened to them, but the police deny holding them.
After several days, the four men are released without charge. 17-year-old Naseer tells Jordan that they were severely beaten before being tortured using electric shock equipment. He thought he would die and had been told by his captors that they would stage an encounter to kill him.
The team end their journey in the home village of one of the militant commanders killed in the four-hour shoot-out. When his body arrives for burial the entire village turns out to greet him as a martyr. Another day of agony begins for the people of Kashmir.
Unreported World: Killing of Kashmir broadcasts on Channel 4 at 9pm April 8, 2004.

Comments

lol, kashmiri, so i think u are just anti-indian, coz that reporter wrote all incidence against indian defence forces.
1st of all kashmir is not disputed, its and indian state. 2nd of all the kashmiris help pakis to terrorise india. 3rd all hindus have been killed or driven away frm kashmir. 4rth the army guys are away from their family into that harsh cold, and kashmiris support terrorists, so wht do u expect, amry personals to kiss u for supporting terrorists?

Are you blind? The reporter wasn't all that baised, it clearly says that the "pro Pakistani militants terrorize the locals to give them shelter"

Ofcourse it's never been disputed in the eyes of India - for them it's a rightful state of theirs, acceeded to them by the Hindu regional prince of Kashmir at the time of the partition.

But this Prince as well as you Hindus have forgotten one thing. Did the Muslims agree??? The majority of the people of Kashmir were Muslim at that time and they still are right now, so by the laws of the partition back then, Kashmir should be part of Pakistan.

2nd.) Not all Kashmiris are pro Pakistan, many just want an independent state from either IOK or POK. And another thing. Fighting for independence or for freedom is supposed to be terrorism??? Is that what our ancestors were against the British? Terrorists??

3.) Yep, Hindus and Sikhs are diverted away from Kashmir, just like Punjabis are diverted away from the Northern areas in Pakistan and are not allow to settle or buy land there.

4.) This is a difficult one - I'm not even going to try and work this out. The Indian gov's really pathetic when it comes to dealing with Kashmir, they think they can use brute force, rape and repression against the Kashmiris to force them to become Indian citizens. So far they've kept the Kashmiris at bay....thanks to their larger forces but I doubt they will ever succeed in turning Kashmir into a safe Indian state, not unless they go about massmurdering and exterminating all the Muslims there - I'm sure your BJP party would love that.

oh you want to see brute force? then see how the west paki army raped 20,000 east-paki(bangladesh) women in 71 and cut out the breasts of 7000 of them, that included women from both religions. 71 was the year when india got bangladesh its freedom from pakistan. Brute force is what israelis is doing to palestinians, what USA did to iraq.
India gives kashmiris free electricity, and millions of USD freebies, kashmiris even dont work anymore, they live on our taxes. And if you dont like india get out of kashmir, goto pakistan or arab. kashmir was/is indian, will always be india's. u can suckle up. One day a good leader will sort out the kashmiri issue, dont worry.

the anti-indian attitude of kashmiris is well known! And it is religion which makes them hate indiA! Kashmir is a muslim majority state of a hindu majority nation......... thats the root cause of this problem,,,,,,,, It is natural that they will lie and spread propoganda about our troops which stop them from separating from INDIA!

Kashmiris openly help terrorists!

Common, lets get to the root of the problem! Do kashmiris hate INDIA bcause it oppresses them with its military! well, then ask yourself "WHAT MADE INDIA SEND 6 LAKH TROOPS TO KASHMIR : ???????"------------- its their HINDU GENOCIDE and ARMED TERRORISM!

The kashmiris insurgents want to make an impression that their movement arises out of oppression by troops! But its the opposite!

Trrops began to fuck kashmiris only after they decided to sepaarte it and started carrying out HINDU GENOCIDE!

Well I don't think the comments area is where you should dish out these Brickbats. Anyways SEED IT whether your a Kashmiri or not bitches. On that issue I would like to say that even if we have to "Tactically Nuke" the entire state and have to face "Ethnic Cleansing" we still won't give Kashmir to any body, be it Pakistan or China. Just waiting for some stupid Fuck up from Pakistan then its ON baby!

You BASTARD HASNAIN KEEP OUT YOUR HANDS FROM OUR KASHMIR!! DON'T DARE TO UNDERMINE THE WARRIOR RACE OF HINDUS! IF YOU DO THAT THEN AS NOSTRADAMUS PREDICTED THAT MECCA & MEDINA WILL BE BLOWN APART BY CHRISTIANS FORCES OF AMERICA IN WORLD WAR 3,THEN EVEN YOUR RELIGION WILL BE ANNHILATED FROM EARTH BY THE INDIAN ARMED FORCES WHO ARE THE WARRIOR SOULS OF OUR BELOVED "MOTHER DURGA" .TRUTH & JUSTICE ALWAYS PREVAIL!!! JAI HIND!! JAI MAA DUGA !!!